Canadian Tourist Cancels Trip Around The World, Donates P1.2M To A Philippine Hospital That Helped Him Instead

The Philippines has always been known because of our hospitality. While this seem to be normal for us, some tourists find it amazing that we are naturally that way.

An example of this is a Canadian tourist named John Abou Samra. He went to the Philippines for his “vacation of the year” but what was supposed to be a happy trip ended up in an unfortunate event.

Last June, he started his trip by going to Palawan, for his first couple of days in El Nido, everything went well, but an accident happened when he visited Coron.

According to him, when he was in Coron, he asked someone to take a picture of him. After she took the photo, when he moved to the side, the plank he was stepping on gave in resulting to him falling hip-deep.

“I asked someone to take a picture of me, and then after she took the picture, I moved to this side to sit down. While I moved, two of this wood, they split, and my right leg sank between them up to my hip. Until now I still have the pain.”

There were no wounds but his legs were full of bruises and he was in so much pain. He was brought to Coron District Hospital and was attended by Dr. Edgar Flores. An X-ray and several tests were done to ensure that there were no broken bones, he was then adviced about how he can treat his leg.

He was treated with so much respect and hospitality that it was hard not to be impressed with the way the staff treats their patients.

“Two nurses took care of me the way I could not imagine, plus in the half an hour I stayed in the hospital, I heard the word ‘sir’ more than 25 times. Even when I was wearing something very casual; I looked like a homeless person, they never stopped calling me sir.”

He was so impressed with the hospital that he went back the next day to ask Dr. Flores how he can help. The doctor then showed him a small donation box, but he had an even grander idea.

While he was there, he noticed that the equipment that they were using were old or non-existent. Samra, a bus driver in Canada, was nearing his retirement and the retirement money that he was supposed to get is budgeted for his around the world tour, but he cancelled that just to be able to donate medical equipment to the hospital who turned his unfortunate accident into a comfortable and pleasant one.

He communicated for weeks with the hospital and now, just weeks before his retirement, he already had purchased equipment worth $16,000. He is going to visit Coron again, to personally witness the arrival of the first batch of equipment.